Celebrating Think Bespoke’s 8th Birthday with a Brand Refresh

As we enjoy our 8th year of business, I’m very excited to reveal our updated logo.

When I successfully trademarked the words ‘Think Bespoke’ in 3 classifications last year, this encouraged me to refresh the logo.

We’ve set the bird free and stayed true to the core logo elements that make Think Bespoke’s logo familiar. Green plays a more prominent role. The tree’s trunk and branches are now grey, similar to what you’d see in gum trees. As I was reviewing the colour options as part of the logo refresh, my son described these colours as representing the diversity of Think Bespoke’s community. My cousin suggested the brown gives a gentle nod to Indigenous Australians, which is relevant due to our alignment with the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and my own personal journey, discovering what it means to be Australian.

The updated logo also represents a maturity in the brand that has come from 7 years of business. It reflects the clients we work with across a variety of values-based organisations, including family owned businesses, member organisations, educational institutions, small business owners and individuals making their next career move. The inclusion of ‘unlock your potential’ references our mission, which is to help people reach their full potential. For regular readers of the blog you may have also noticed the change in font, which will be rolled out across all our communication. The registered symbol will also make an appearance in due course.

Think Bespoke’s original logo was designed by my dear friend, Sarah, aHHa Designs. My brief was simple. Please create a logo that represents thought bubbles, nature and me. The result was the tree and wording in the format you see below, with very different colours. I was after earthier colours than the blues in the first version and the end result was this logo.

I love the tree in the logo and the core colours. However, there was sometimes confusion about the name of the company, and on some occasions clients would think our name was ‘Bespoke’. My attachment to the tree in the logo was emphasised when I first briefed my visual designer, Maria, from Intrinsic Marketing, on the logo re-design. Maria has created the visuals for our very popular LinkedIn Tips and the logo for Think Bespoke’s LinkedIn seminar series. Maria came back with a number of great designs, but the departure from these core elements made me re-think whether it was in fact a good idea to change the logo. I paused and moved on to the re-design of Think Bespoke’s website, which was finalised towards the end of 2017.

At the same time I was re-designing the website for Think Bespoke I was also exploring the suitability of a new service provider for my sister business, Ozsourced. This is a business I co-own with Lyndall, Life Stylelists. Ozsourced provides outsourcing advice, outsourcing strategy and outsourcing solutions for growing Australian businesses. From time to time we road test new suppliers and, at the time, we were developing our logo health check. Think Bespoke’s logo seemed like an obvious choice for this service. I began my journey with Clare, Blade Creative, and the re-design of Think Bespoke’s logo became the first item to be ticked off 2018’s to do list.

I believe the logo is the heartbeat of your business and appreciated this more and more as Clare drew the brief out of me for the logo re-design. There were some very particular elements we discussed in the briefing process including the role of the bird, the need to dial up the word ‘Think’ so it shared centre stage with ‘Bespoke’ and the versatility of the logo for different applications. There was a a lot to think about and I thoroughly enjoyed responding to Clare’s questions. Clare explores in detail her role in drawing out a brief from her clients in this blog post.

Celebrating Think Bespoke’s 8th Birthday

As we enjoy our 8th year of business I’ve been reflecting on the journey I’ve been on. In the year I first established Think Bespoke I had two boys under 5 years of age and my dear Mum was diagnosed with dementia. At the time, I wanted and needed greater flexibility in my career to play an active role in my family’s care. Motherhood changed me and family had become a much greater priority in my life.

Interestingly, running my own business was never a goal. I recall being interviewed by the owner of the boutique training consultancy I freelanced for when I first began Think Bespoke. Poppy asked me what my career goals were. “I want to change the world, and plan to spend the next 5 years working out the best way to do so”, was my response to this question.

I believe we are all capable of great things and enjoy the intellectual challenge of setting myself scary goals so I can see how I go achieving them. I am driven by a desire to be the change I wish to see in the world and have learnt to actively seek collaborations with individuals who share my values and move at the pace that works for my priorities.

With the support of my clients and colleagues, I’ve built a training and coaching consultancy that helps individuals and organisations unlock their potential. I’ve done this by saying yes, listening to and responding to my client’s needs, taking calculated risks, making mistakes, sharing my insights here on the blog, publishing LinkedIn articles and regularly guest speaking in Melbourne and Sydney for organisations keen to learn how to unlock LinkedIn. It’s been a lot of hard work and I’ve enjoyed every thrilling moment.

Please do let me know what you think of the refreshed logo. Clare has developed a variety of versions for different applications, which we’ll be rolling out as we update our LinkedIn and social media channels over the coming weeks.

Thank you for reading Think Bespoke’s insights. As one of Australia’s leading independent LinkedIn specialists and a Content Marketer who understands the value and importance of sharing your story, I enjoy helping individuals and organisations maximise their time online with LinkedIn. Find out more about Think Bespoke’s LinkedIn Services. You can sign up to my newsletter herewhere you will receive a complimentary download of Think Bespoke’s LinkedIn Profile Checklist to help you update your LinkedIn Profile.